#chess notes

^ Bronstein at a simul in Slobodskoy, 1958

[Below is my translation from Spanish of an interview from pages 38-42 of the March 1993 Revista Internacional de Ajedrez]

Interviewer: "What of the match with Botvinnik? Did they pressure you to lose?"

Bronstein: "There wasn't direct pressure, naturally. But there were circumstances, like my father, an explicit opponent of the regime, who had been in prison for several years; the fact that I am Jewish; the marked institutional preference for Botvinnik, who was seen as a model Soviet champion...There was psychological pressure in the air, and it seemed that winning could bring me serious harm, which is not to say that I lost deliberately..."

[Below are three more quotes from the same article, not my translations.]

"Bronstein spoke of the influence of his father, a rebellious defender of democracy. ‘From him I inherited that trait: when I am forbidden to do something, I rebel.’"

"‘You have the impression that I am modest. I am not. I know that I am good, and even very good. Do you know why I like Leonardo da Vinci? Because he believed that for him nothing was impossible. I too believe that for me nothing is impossible in chess, so you can see that I am not as modest as you think.’"

"Most of the nice words and elegant expressions in [Zurich International Chess Tournament, 1953] overall are the work of Vainstein, who writes very well ... Of course, the analysis and technical concepts are mine, as are the views on my rivals, but it may be said that a large part of the text is by [Boris] Vainstein. Also, it is a book for which I do not have particular affection because it reminds me of a tournament that was very special in a negative sense. Things happened there that I should like to forget ... We shall discuss that another time. I do not wish to be more specific for the moment."

Black to play (Simagin - Bronstein, 1947 Moscow Championship)

1…h4!! 2.Qxd6 Qg2+ 3.Kb3 h3 4.Qd7+ Kg8 5.f5 h2 6.Bg5 h1=Q 7.Qe8+ Kg7 8.Qg6+ Kf8 9.Qxf6+ Kg8 10.Qd8+ Kg7 11.Qe7+ Kg8 12.Qe8+ 0-1

(D.J. Morgan, page 106 of the April 1963 BCM, quoting the Dec. 1962 issue of The South African Chessplayer)

Euwe and Alekhine play at Nottingham 1936 during Euwe's short reign as world champion.

Before:

Manchester Guardian, Oct. 5, 1937

Euwe, after:

"I must above all marvel at the manner in which he treated the adjourned positions. This is all the easier to judge since I also had to analyse the adjourned games, and thus knew them through and through. When I think of the creative ideas which my opponent sometimes infused into the positions, of the unexpected turns which he was able to discover, then I must express the greatest admiration for his mastery of this phase of the game."

Manchester Guardian, Dec. 15, 1937

Alekhine, after:

Manchester Guardian, Dec. 28, 1937

and writing an update post because i love thoughtful structured learning!!!!

i found a lot of semi-unintelligible advice about learning chess, and ended up starting with an oft-recommended website lichess.org. was familiar with all the fundamentals, but learned new stuff at the intermediate level!! some of the advanced lessons were true puzzlers.

Checkmate

X vs computer

[Event "Vs. Computer"]

[Site "Chess.com"]

[Date "2023-07-12"]

[White "digitalcamouflage"]

[Black "Beginner"]

[Result "1-0"]

[TimeControl "-"]

[Termination "digitalcamouflage won by checkmate"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Nf3 e6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 a6 6. Nxc6 bxc6 7. Bf4 Bc5 8.

Qg4 Nf6 9. Qg5 Bb7 10. Qxc5 Rf8 11. O-O-O Rg8 12. Rd6 h6 13. Bc4 g5 14. Bd2 Kf8

15. e5 Nh5 16. Be2 Kg7 17. Bxh5 Re8 18. h4 Qc8 19. hxg5 Kf8 20. gxh6 a5 21. Rd3+